by Alfred Tennyson

Born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, in 1809, Alfred Tennyson was the fourth of 12 children, the son of a country parson and a vicar’s daughter. Except for a brief unhappy stint at Louth Grammar School in York, Tennyson was educated at home by his father until he left for Trinity College at Cambridge University in 1827. That same year, Tennyson—who showed signs of poetic promise from an early age—and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers, a feat that attracted the attention of a group of gifted Cambridge undergraduates. These students, called “The Apostles,” befriended Tennyson, encouraging him to devote his life to poetry and building his confidence by involving him in their intellectual and political discussions. Arthur Henry Hallam, one of the leaders of The Apostles, became an especially close friend and later was even engaged to Tennyson’s younger sister, Emily...